Pinoy Blog Superstar November 2007 Nominees!

I was saddened when I learned some bloggers thought that this competition was just another blog contest only meant to increase my readership. It’s not just that.

I created this contest to find the most promising bloggers in hopes that the winners as well as the nominees would have increased readership because I believe that good content deserves good readers (a mantra that I should also remember from now on).

Anyway, after days of squinting my eyes against the monitor, Empress Maruja has finally chosen the nominees for Pinoy Blog Superstar on November 2007.

The nomination process went as such:

1) All bloggers who added me in their blogroll are qualified, but bloggers should post at least five entries in a month. (And just like in raffle draws, “the more entries, the more chances of winning”.)

2) The blogs are then divided into groups (according to days when I am supposed to read them). These were sorted out “like cards”.

3) Each blog is then read according to the following preliminary criteria:

* Is the author passionate with blogging?

* Does the author write with quality content?

* Does the author write with original content? (This is very crucial. I was dismayed after finding out that there are blogs that copy verbatim from other blogs.)

4) The blogs that stand out from these criteria would then undergo a second round of judging according to the following criteria:

* Does the author write in a consistent style?

* Has it kept you engaged in reading?

* Does the blog deserve more readers?

And now without further ado, here are our nominees for November 2007’s Pinoy Blog SOOperstar!… starting off with the representative of Monday Group:

Em Dy is Filipino physician in Quezon City who checks out the yummiest foodie finds, the hottest movies, and anything in between.

“As the restaurant is located in a busy part of the mall and with an open design, it never attracted me because I value solitude and calm. But I was surprised when I sat inside for the first time. It was not as noisy as I expected it to be. It provided a good vantage point to watch the goings on in the ground floor. The music that they played was calming. And I don’t often notice the sounds inside a restaurant. This time I did, it was La Vie en Rose and others of the same genre. I felt I was in a Parisian cafe.”

Yuriki-kin is relatively-new blogger (on Blogger, at least) with a mouthful of opinions delivered just right.

“I suppose the problem lies in how people read the Bible. No one knows how to really READ the Bible. Most stay on the thematic level, focusing on the moral lesson. But that’s just barely scratching the surface. If the Bible is the heart and soul of Catholicism, then why not use it to explicate our faith? I think the church is underestimating our intellectual abilities.

What’s my point? It is very simple: do not force your children (or anyone else for that matter) to hear mass. We’ll go there when we want to. You’re just going to waste your and my time.”

Niña Bumanglag’s views on current events deserve a good read, with great anecdotes to boot!

“It’s not that I’m being too pessimistic, but considering PNP’s terrible track record of solving cases in this country, I think it’s only fair to have doubts or second thoughts on their capabilities. I mean, just look at how miraculous these guys worked in the Glorietta 2 and the Batasang Pambansa Bombings, have you ever seen them solve cases that fast or capture the culprits that effective? Almost everyone is crying planted evidence but as far as the PNP is concerned, they did a damn good job. It might be just me or has justice been absent in this country for too long that seeing our cops do a good job looks weird? But still, having faith in them shouldn’t hurt; not everything they did resulted to falsehoods.”

What is intriguing about Reyville’s blog is how he doesn’t treat his featured men as “just another piece of meat” (I remember getting an e-mail from a model I featured saying just that). You could also browse through his insightful anecdotes.

“Going back to the corporate world turned out to be less exciting and more noxious than going back to school. Both worlds require a lot of rules that you can either bend or adore. Each has their own agenda. Each sketched a small place for me … like I am no one but a slave. I have been into these opposite worlds before. In fact, I have settled into both places twice. But I am still lost like I was. I know there is a way out, but for now, I have to convince myself that the only way to get any further is to be a slave five days a week, nine hours a day.”

Congratulations to all our nominees! Empress Maruja would also like to list down the following entries in our Honorable Mention Roll.

* “What am I to you?” from Zen Bitch
“In Cambodia there is a huge same-sex subculture that the ‘polite’ society does not acknowledge. Cultural quirks make it easy for men to have sex with each other with absolutely no strings attached. One of these ‘strings’ is an identity. There is no specific word for gay in the Khmer language. Not even something close to our ‘bakla’. This non-existence has many implications for the Cambodian gay man. Because in spite of this sexual behavior/preference, he is still expected to carry out his obligations as a man: marry a woman, father children, and support his family. For me, this non-existence is a most extreme form of homophobia. And it’s going to take a long time for this to change, if it will change at all.

Because my lover is Cambodian, I am indirectly affected by this. It took him a long time to accept himself fully as a gay man. And now he feels that the only way for him to be able to live freely as a gay man is if he leaves the country. But my direct experiences with homophobia did not happen with Cambodians, it happened with other Filipinos.”

“I am not fond of courtships or whatever rituals or initiations one has to do in order to be in a relationship with someone. They always say that they want to know the person deeply before giving up their own treasure which is usually the main goal of the other party. But I think this is just a delaying tactic that should have been omitted. And we all know (do we?) that sex changes everything like turning a very sweet person into someone that is cold because they got what they wanted (i.e. post-cum jerks according to Empress Maruja). Or if not careful especially on the girls, an added bonus after nine months.

That’s why it is nice to start everything with a bang so that the expectations are low and the chances of getting hurt are slim. If the person you are shagging with is still the same or adores you more then probably you found a keeper. Also you know that the person is not just after the sex but who you really are which is very important to have a long term relationship.”

“I will not have the guts to talk to him. I shake my head, tuck the book under my arm and turn to leave. Stupid me, thinking something would change, that something would happen. I sigh and take a step away.

“Jane?”

I turn around.

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

“2. Ousting the President would actually mean physically extracting her from the Palace. This means that you and your men have to leave the luxury five-star hotel and march across Mendiola into Malacanang Palace.

3. Be articulate. Not like this:

Trillanes: “Like soldiers, we’re going to face this.”
Reporter: “Sir, how are you going to face this?”
Trillanes: (after a beat) “Whatever.”
From the McVie Show

4. Make sure you have the successor, ie. the Vice-President on board, make sure you have Cabinet Members, Congressmen, and the Middle Class on your side.”

maru, if there are bloggers who think of this as a means to promote your blog’s readership, don’t u think it’s kind of an irrelevant assumption? what blogger wouldn’t want to promote his blog? chaka at least you’re promoting not only your blog pati sa iba ren.

I am in a financial trouble. When I divorced I saw that I had very little credit history, which was not enough to qualify for a new credit card of my own. All credit cards I have used before were in my husband’s name, so they were not reported to the credit bureaus. I wonder if I can start my own credit file through applying for a secured credit card at